


a universe with two

by wicherwill



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Movie: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21899872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wicherwill/pseuds/wicherwill
Summary: TROS Spoilers, with canon compliance.In which there is no fix, only debts that must be paid and experiences that are universal when your universe has shrunk to two
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	a universe with two

**Author's Note:**

> In which there is no fix it (but there are others out there if that’s what you want, and it’s also what I want). A thought of mirrored arcs for two sad, stubborn kiddos.

i.

 _Nothing_.

Or…near-nothingness.

It felt far away. Something felt far away.

The Force felt far away.

But she felt oddly…

…a little…

… _less_ Nothing.

The Force seemed to be closer, or larger, or nearer, or growing or doing something unclear in that inevitably frustrating way that it was. Although she’d just had it, hadn’t she? At the tips of her fingers, just an unlimited amount of strong, clear power—

_Rey._

Rey? What was… _she_ was. She was Rey.

She was Rey.

The world seemed to sigh, a great big whoosh and suddenly she was soaring into a lake of—of—joy and happiness, drinking it up and floating through and flying upwards upwards towards the light, the Light, towards all the wonder the world could bring.

_Sorrow._

But the sorrow was rushing back as well, and suddenly she felt the ache as well, the bone-tired-weariness-exhaustion-worry-anxiety-ache. It surrounded her, flecks growing through the sea of joy and she wanted to just stop.

It was good and she would ruin it, the spots would grow and grow and she would spend all her days trying to beat them back.

If she just stayed here in the Nothing (although it was starting to seem less like Nothing and more like Something Between Nothing and Everything. She was remembering things now, flashes. Teeth and thrones bared and bare).

If she just didn’t bother going forward or back, just stayed put. Maybe just seeing that Light and knowing it was there would be enough.

There was a soft feeling in her core though and it was _pulling_ her up and up through what was surely a vast ocean of Force and it was all coming back now and she steeled herself because she knew what was waiting there, nothing but the _neverendingallconsuming_ task of forcing herself to stay in the joy…

She blinked.

ii.

Rey blinks.

She’s being held. There’s a hand on her stomach. Above, the ruins of the Fleet appear in stark relief against the light breaking through the clouds.

Did it not work? Is she _him_? Is this carnage on her hands one she will never be able to heal—

She looks down and—

 _Ben_.

She sees his eyes are soft.

Inside her, suddenly, there’s quiet. It’s a quiet that she doesn’t think she’s ever fully had. It’s the quiet she was trying to find with Leia, with Luke, with her friends. It’s here.

Maybe it needed this all along.

She reaches for him and she _knows._

iii.

Their lips meet and they embrace, holding onto one another.

It’s a _calmpassionate_ moment, the duality made flesh.

It’s the Force, with them and through them and around them.

It’s the sun reaching their faces as they pour themselves, everything into this.

iv.

(Maybe he knows as he pulls back to see her.)

He needed her all along.

Inside him, it’s quiet and serene, the peace and balance within the Force that he never managed to fully master. Not with Luke, not with dad, not even with mom.

He smiles and sees her face light up.

_Rey._

His mind is running around without him, childhood training he never could overcome making him dispassionately _observe_ but he wants to dive in and _experience_ this life, swim in this newly found endless ocean of Force.

He’s being held. There’s a hand on his cheek, on his neck, an arm wrapped around his shoulder.

Ben blinks.

v.

He blinks.

He’s never known a moment where the Force wasn’t a part of his life. So he immediately feels the cold tug form inside him and start _pulling_ him down and down.

Suddenly it’s hard to distinctly remember…

He is somewhere specific.

He was somewhere?

He…had just been somewhere?

But he knows this: the Force is leaving him. Or is he leaving the Force?

It’s further away now, that vast sea of energy.

He wants to just stay here for a second and sort things out. The Force is his friend. Someone had whispered that to him, sometime that…wasn’t now. It was a soft voice, he thought, a flash of a soft voice while he was laying down.

He’s laying down.

There’s a weariness through his body that seems both acute and distant. It’s a pain, but deeper. It’s tendrils, teasing through his soul. It’s knowledge of pain.

He suddenly realizes what’s happening as the Force turns into a deep lake of energy.

 _Sorrow_.

He can’t help as it washes over him and pushes his connection to the Force even further away. He’s flying now, further and further, faster and faster.

He was Ben.

…Ben?

What was…?

He’d just had it, hadn’t he? At the tips of his fingers, just an unlimited amount of strong, clear power. But the Force continued to be further, or smaller, or farther, or shrinking, or doing something unclear in that incredibly frustrating way that it was.

He felt oddly…

…a little nothing?

The Force felt far away.

Something felt far away. It felt far away.

It was…near-nothingness.

 _Nothing_.


End file.
